I needed to convert a text document with personal data to an Excel spreadsheet. I wanted to use Neo Office (Open Office) but couldn’t find a way to import text, so I fired up my Windows XP virtual machine, and installed an old copy of Office 2000.

So, here’s the dilemma, the data was pasted into a text file from a web page and it was formatted with line breaks. There were 180 blocks of data like this:

first last
title
address
phone
email

first last
title
address
phone
email

After googling, I found that it’s fairly easy to import text as long as there is some sort of delimiter like tab, comma, semi-colon separating the data.

In excel, choose Data>Get External Data>Import Text File

Initially, I tried comma, but didn’t work well, since some of the text data already had commas, so I decided to use a semi-colon delimiter.

I typed a semi-colon after each section & painstakenly removed each line break.

first ;last;title;address;phone;email
first ;last;title;address;phone;email
first ;last;title;address;phone;email

I worked in small chunks, importing after a few sections. This was taking forever. I needed a short cut!

Since I was using Text Wrangler, I figured there might be a way to automatically remove the line breaks. Yay! Found it. Text>Remove Line Breaks. Couldn’t be easier!

Okay, now if only there was a way to somehow add a semi-colon after each line. Whoo-hooo, how about this:

Text>Prefix/Suffix Lines

I selected each section, added the suffix of “;” then removed the line breaks.

Text Wrangler cut my work in half!

NOTE: When Text Wrangler removed the line breaks, it added a space in between the items, so that messed up my spreadsheet by adding a space before each item in the cell. Before I imported, I did a “find/replace” and replaced all the ;(space) with ; and that worked!

And I adore it! I love love love that I am able to have internet where ever I am. I loved the iPod Touch, but it was limited to only wifi, so I missed out on a lot. But the iPhone, oh I am in heaven!

I really love the camera, both still photographs and video are wonderful. And again, being able to upload or email immediately is so cool. (Can you guess this is my first Smart Phone? My husband has had a Blackberry for awhile, but this is MINE!)

The true test will be when we travel up north to New Hampshire or Maine. Don’t know how the AT&T service will fair in the boonies. I have a feeling I won’t be connecting on 3G, but it’ll be okay. My expectations are low, so I hope they will surprise me!

Cas Rifkin posted a question on a recent iPhoto tutorial. Cas asked about more detailed ways to organize photos inside events. Smart Albums are a very easy way to let iPhoto organize your photos for you. And you don’t even need to do much work!

Comcast sent an email today announcing a new feature for their customers with TV, Internet, & Telephone bundle packages. When a telephone call comes in, the Caller ID will display on the TV screen.

Yeah! That will save me from having to stand up and walk over to our phone just to see who it is. If it’s mom, I will answer (maybe…LOL Just kidding) and if it’s a stupid telemarketer, I will just let it go to voice mail. I wonder if there’s an option on the remote to sent it immediately to voice mail!?

There’s also another option to download for your PC which will display the Caller ID on your PC, but that’s not as appealing to me as the TV. It’s an Adobe Air app, so it’s Windows and Mac compatible.

It’s supposed to be starting in about a month. Oh and the best part is, it’s FREE!

Now if only I can get Comcast to add specific phone number blocking, that would be a big help! Still can’t understand why I can’t have a list of phone numbers that are blocked from calling me. It’s sounds so simple! But what do I know!?

Anyway, the Comcast Universal Caller ID is cool and I can’t wait to try it out!

Photo taken in Wilmington, Massachusetts on Wildwood Street by the Ipswich River. This area is one of my favorite places to stop and take photos. The sky was looking particularly pretty that afternoon.

Edited in Lightzone using mostly the Relight tool.

(click for slightly larger version)

(all photos are copyright protected. Do not use or copy without written permission)